


remembering happy

by carterhack



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, But with a happy ending, Canon Compliant, Family Feels, Post Season 3, Sibling Bonding, just some good ol sibling bonding with will and el
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 20:24:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19753180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carterhack/pseuds/carterhack
Summary: When El is upset, Will is usually the one who knows how to cheer her up.





	remembering happy

El pressed her back up against the wall, her nails scraping against the plaster of the wall. The sounds of talking from down the hall echoed through the room, but it was distant and far away, almost as if she was under water. The longer she sat there, on the floor of her bedroom, the farther away the noises got, until she heard nothing at all. The suffocating darkness was surrounding her. Suffocating her. She urged, with everything she had, for the door to open. Nothing happened. Please open, please, she chanted in her head, shutting her eyes. Just a few inches. 

Suddenly, the door swung open, light flooding the room. El sat up, hope blossoming in her chest. 

“El?” Will murmured, looking at the girl on the floor. “Is something wrong?” El sank against the wall, looking away from the boy. She hadn’t done it… 

“Fine,” She sniffed, pushing herself up from the floor. Will nodded, slowly, then turned to his bed, pulling the covers back. At least Will was different than everyone else. Joyce and Jonathan, they were sweet, but they didn’t really understand. She didn’t want to be treated like she was broken. Will seemed to get that better than anyone.

“Okay,” He nodded, pushing his hair out if his eyes. “Are you ready for bed?”

“I need to brush my teeth,” She said, quietly, before walking out into the hallway. She turned, making her way into the bathroom, her feet pressed against the cold tile. She shivered slightly, propping the door open with a stray sandel as she brushed her teeth, staring at the small helpless girl in the mirror. She sighed, turning away from the mirror as she finished and left the room, finding herself in the kitchen. The low murmuring of whispers was cut short once she entered the room.

“Hey, sweetie,” Joyce smiled. “You going to bed?” 

“Yeah,” El nodded, looking at the woman. “Going to bed.”

“Alright,” She nodded, setting down the mug she was holding. “I’ll come say goodnight to you two.” El nodded, spinning around and walking back towards the bedroom. 

“Goodnight!” Jonathan called, his voice carrying throughout the house. El sighed softly, walking over to her bed and sitting on the edge of it, looking over at Will who was already comfortably laying in his own bed.

“You guys ready?” Joyce asked, coming into the room and looking at the two kids.

“Yes,” El nodded, crawling into her bed and pulling the covers up. Joyce smiled softly, leaning forward and kissing the top of the girl's head before moving on to her son.

“Did you to brush your teeth?” She asked teasingly. 

“Yes mom,” Will laughed, rolling his eyes. “We are completely ready for bed.”

“Okay, okay,” She chuckled, kissing his cheek. “Get some rest and maybe tomorrow we can go see a film.” 

“Okay but we have to be back before-” Will started.

“Before five so you can talk to Mike, I know,” She nodded. “I know these things.”

“Alright, alright,” Will smiled. “Goodnight, mom.” 

“Goodnight, kids,” Joyce shut the lights off. “Love you.” She turned, closing the door with her as she left the room. A slight tinge of fear shot through El and she sat up.

“Wait, keep it open-” She said, quickly. Will turned to her, tilting his head. 

“Three inches, I know,” She nodded, a sad smile on her face. “I know.” El nodded, laying down. She hummed quietly, staring up at the ceiling. 

Things were… good. Really good. But they weren't like before. She still had the same old nightmares and flashbacks to the times with Papa, of course she did. As much as she wanted to think it wasn't true, she knew that what happened throughout her childhood will always be with her. Now she had things to distract her, though. Joyce, for example, was an excellent parent to her. She made sure she had everything she needed and tried to get everything she wanted (there was a freezer full of Eggo waffles in the kitchen that proves this). She cared for El, she truly did, and El loved her for that. Then there was Jonathan, and he was pretty good too. He was the least understanding of the three, but he was still fairly caring and all around sweet. El could still remember the day he got home from work and blew his paycheck to take her to a movie and get every candy she wanted. That night she got so sick she couldn't move for hours, but it was one of the first times she really smiled in forever. Lastly, there was Will. He was more quiet and reserved than the other two, but in a calming way. No matter what El was feeling, she somehow knew that Will understood it. They had gone through hell, both of them, and although they hadn't exactly gone through it together one hundred percent of the time, they were still recovering from it together. They understood each other. All of these things that the Byers family did for her, they were truly incredible, but it change the fact that it's not the same. It didn't change the fact that it wasn't  _ him _ . 

“El?” Will turned in his bed. “Is everything uh… okay?” He asked, yawning.

“Yes,” El nodded, looking over at the boy across the room. “Fine.” 

“You're uh…” He paused, pushing himself out of bed and walking over to their desk, grabbing a box of tissues. “Here.” He mumbled, handing her the box and sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked at the tissue box with confusion for a moment before realizing she was crying. 

“Thank you,” She mumbled, sitting up and grabbing the box of tissues, pulling one out to dab at her eyes then blow her nose. Will looked at her analytically before a glint appeared in his eyes.

“Let's play a game,” He said smiled, looking at her. 

“A game?” She questioned. 

“Mhm.” Will nodded. 

“What kind of… game?” She asked. “Like dungeons and dragons?” 

“Uh… not really,” Will shook his head. “Like a memory.”

“Memory game?” She asked. 

“Yeah,” He nodded. “We say our favorite memories from back home, and the best one wins. Does that make sense?” 

“Like… happy memories?” She asked, thinking for a moment. Back home, with all of her friends. With  _ him _ . Those were her happy memories. All of them.

“Yep,” Will nodded. “I can go first if you want?”

“Okay,” She nodded. 

“Okay, so,” Will started. “One the best memories is from kindergarten, the first day actually, I was swinging on the swings. It was kind of lonely, you know? Even though I was so small, people had already out ruled me as weird because I was different than all the other kids. But he didn't think I was different…” 

“Mike?” El asked because she heard this story before, from Mike. 

“Yeah,” Will smiled. “Yeah, Mike, he came up to me while I was swinging, and he was the only kid who didn't immediately outcasted me. He asked me to be his friend and I said yes, not because he's the only person who wanted to be my friend but because I really did want to be his friend after that.” 

“And that… that's your happiest memory?” El asked. 

“One of them, yeah,” Will nodded. “Because of that day I now have Mike in my life.” El smiled at the way Will talked about his best friend. She wished she had that with someone. Maybe she did, with Max, but it still didn't feel the same. Maybe it's because they've known each other longer, or maybe it was because of something entirely different. 

“Your turn.” Will smiled at her. 

“Oh, okay,” She nodded, thinking for a moment. There were so many memories that she liked. She liked making Eggo towers with Dustin or learning how to shoot Lucas's wrist rocket. She liked shopping at the mall with Max and listening to music with Mike. She loved staying up late to play board games with… 

“I liked board game… nights, with my uh… with my dad,” She murmured, her voice coming out quieter and more unsure than before. “Once… we played a game, it was called monopoly, he was teaching me how to play,” She smiled slightly at the memory. 

“He was… winning, at first, but then I started to win ... and I was about to win but he got… angry,” She giggled. “And he flipped the whole game board.” Will looked at her, smiling at the way she lit up. 

“Then he… felt bad,” She grinned. “That night, we had Eggos with candy for dinner.” She finished the story, a sad smile played out across her face as she looked down at her hands. 

“Okay,” Will smiled. “You win.” 

“Really?” El said, excitedly. 

“I mean, yeah,” Will nodded. “My mom would never let me have Eggos with candy for dinner.”

“Neither would Hop,” She laughed. “He felt bad for ruining the game.” 

“Hopper was a good guy,” Will mumbled, looking at her. 

“Yeah,” El yawned, smiling. “He was. 

“I think it's time for bed,” Will chuckled softly, patting her shoulder before hopping off her bed. “If we don't sleep mom is going to kill us.”

“Yeah,” El chuckled under her breath, sliding back under her covers.

“It was a fun game, though,” Will said, climbing into his own bed. “Maybe we can play with the others when we talk to them tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, it was fun,” She agreed, looking up at the ceiling. It was nice, thinking about the Hopper. Everyone else seemed to dance around the fact that he was gone for her sake, but Will didn't. He knew how to cheer her up when she was sad about him.

“Will?” She whispered into the dark, staring up at the ceiling. 

“Yeah, El?” Will asked back, quietly.

“This is now one of my happiest memories, too,” She said. 

“Yeah,” Will smiled. “Me too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of an angsty fic turned happy fic. I just needed to write something to heal me after season three, and now that they're siblings I needed to write some El and Will bonding stuff because it's what they deserve.


End file.
